The Globe and Mail

From Justin Morneau to Brett Lawrie, some of Canada’s best baseball players have taken turns behind the plate.

But Kellin Deglan, an 18-year-old from Langley, B.C., is a catcher of a different sort. He projects as a big-league receiver – the rare homegrown athlete who can handle one of the most demanding and cerebral positions on the diamond.

Scouts are predicting Deglan will be a high pick during Major League Baseball’s first-year player draft on June 7, and are calling him Canada’s best catching prospect ever.

“There’s no doubt,” says Minnesota Twins scout Doug Mathieson, Deglan’s coach with the Langley Blaze of the British Columbia Premier Baseball League. “Brett Lawrie and Justin Morneau were not catchers, they were hitters. Kellin is the real package.”

Among BCPBL alums, Morneau would later move to first base with the Twins and win American League most valuable player honours. Lawrie, Canada’s highest-drafted position player (16th in 2008), has shifted to second base and is already at Milwaukee’s Double-A affiliate, arguably the Brewers’ top prospect at 20.

Ironically, Russell Martin of the Los Angeles Dodgers played the infield while growing up in Montreal, before being converted to catcher in the minor leagues.

It usually works the other way around, because while many amateurs or minor-league pros move up the ranks as catchers, few have the combination of skills to make it in the majors.

Deglan, however, is one of the few big, agile and strong-armed Canadians to take to catching at an early age. Now 6 foot 3 and 200 pounds, he began focusing on the position exclusively at 14, having watched two older brothers go through the BCPBL as backstops.

“I observed a lot when I was younger, and when I started playing baseball, I liked being in control and seeing the whole field,” he says from the Dominican Republic, on tour with Baseball Canada’s junior national team. “I think I know a lot about the game, and can call a good game. I receive well, and I think I work well with pitchers.”

Because of the defensive demands, scouts put a premium on catchers, and they rave about Deglan’s work at the dish, including a 1.9-second “pop time” on throws to second base. While some scouts are convinced he will hit as a professional, others say his left-handed bat is not a sure bet.

Deglan, a Grade 12 student at R.E. Mountain Secondary School in Langley, is a line-drive hitter whose power is expected to develop once his body fills out. He is not an elite hitter compared to the best in the U.S. high-school ranks and, against older competition, he has struggled to hit off-speed pitches.

On the other hand, because of the Blaze’s ambitious travel schedule and his time with the junior national team, Deglan has played superior competition compared to his U.S. rivals. He is approaching 40 games against professionals this season, and has shown scouts a large sample of quality at-bats. That’s important because teenage catchers are notoriously difficult to evaluate.

Deglan is ranked as the 31st-best prospect by ESPN draft expert Keith Law, and is No. 29 overall according to Perfect Game scouting service. He could be the third catcher selected, and sneak into the first round, in which case Deglan said he would be “thrilled.”

If he is unsatisfied with his draft position or available signing bonus, Deglan has committed to Florida International University. According to Mathieson, legendary FIU coach Henry (Turtle) Thomas saw Deglan at a showcase last October, and predicted he would have a long big-league career.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what happens, and where I end up,” Deglan says. “Whether I go to school or pro ball, my life is about to change. It’s pretty exciting.”